A Meal Well Worth the Wait
By now, we’ve all heard about how wonderful Rose’s Luxury is. Located in Barrack’s Row at 717 8th St. SE, it was recently named the Best New Restaurant by Bon Appetit magazine.
Needless to say, D.C.’s most talked about restaurant is a tough place to get into. My first attempt ended in complete and utter failure. I happened to be in the neighborhood with my sister, and we decided to just drop in and see if we could get on the list. It was 5:45 p.m. on a Thursday night. We waited 20 minutes in a line that went out the door and down the street. By the time we got to the hostess desk we were told the wait was going to be about three hours. Come again? We decided to try for a table another day and slumped out with our heads down and bellies empty.
Last week, we set forth a plan of attack and were rewarded with a much-coveted table after only waiting one and a half hours. Walking in, we noticed that everything about this restaurant was thought out to the last detail from the décor to the mismatched plates to the overhead bistro bulbs draped in the back dining room. There was even a cubby under the table to keep one set of menus, thereby saving precious surface space for more important things… like food. We were greeted with smiling faces from every staff member, making the dining experience even more enjoyable.
A small plates style restaurant, we were directed to order between three to five dishes to share between the two of us. We happily obliged and went for the middle road, selecting four plates. Of course, we had already sneaked a peek at the rotating menu before sitting down and already knew what we wanted to order. To start things off, a beautiful brioche loaf with butter and honey arrived and almost immediately disappeared, devoured within minutes.
Washington Post named the pork sausage, habanero and lychee salad as “one of the dishes every Washingtonian must try in 2014,” and it did not disappoint. The combination of flavors was out of this world. Basil, peanuts and coconut complemented the other salad components and left us scraping the bottom of the bowl to get every last bite.
Our server brought over a dish on the house: watermelon salad with feta cream, black olive oil and watermelon radish. I love when restaurants give a complimentary dish. This is something we would never have ordered, but we were so happy we got to try it. It was almost too pretty to eat.
Due to some confusion, we were also gifted with a plate of caramelized cauliflower with Greek yogurt. Again, not something we were planning on ordering, but we’re not ones to turn away a free dish.
Next up was our favorite dish of the night: linguittini with saffron, butter, shrimp and lemon. It was so buttery and so rich … if only it were socially acceptable to lick the bottom of serving plates, I’d be all over it.
This is right about the time when our stomachs started expanding to their limits, begging us to stop eating, but we just couldn’t. With two more plates left, we were nowhere near the finish line. The pickle-brined fried chicken with honey and benne seed was the perfect blend of sweet and salty, and the Mexican grilled corn salad was smoky, light and refreshing. On recommendation from a coworker, we had hoped to save enough room to cap off our meal with the goat’s milk stracciatella, raspberries and spicy meringue, but unfortunately our sated stomachs got the better of us and we decided to try the dessert on our next visit. Our food comas were hitting us hard as we sat back, contemplating when we could justify splurging on another feast here.
I’m not exaggerating when I say this meal was the best I’ve eaten at any restaurant. The next morning I was looking through the photos I had taken from the night before and could literally taste each dish again as I flipped through the images. My sister even texted me “I am dreaming about last night’s dinner.” A week later, I’m still salivating over the pictures as I put this post together.
Rose’s Luxury definitely lived up to its hype and my high expectations. Everything from the clean, fresh flavors of the menu to the décor and service was inviting and genuine: a dining experience that was perfect and luxurious in every way.
A native of Northern Virginia, Lanna is a full-time marketing professional. Outside her cube, she can be found roaming D.C. for the perfect brunch spots, discovering new restaurants and trying to recreate all of her mom’s recipes. When she’s not out finding new ways to expand her waistline, you can catch her at her favorite spin studio attempting to offset her foodie appetite.